Involution; Inner Transformation and Self-Awareness

In life we’re confronted with many puzzling, cryptic and complex questions.

Who am I? Why do I keep making the same mistakes? Why do I continue suffering so much pain? What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Where am I going?

In our slow and tumultuous journeys, we come across hundreds of possible answers, and thousands more dogmas, creeds and doctrines that claim to cure our inner sicknesses and give meaning and direction to our confusing lives.

At the end of the day, many of us forget a very simple truth:

Change – deep, long-lasting change – comes from within.

Yet many of us outsource and externalize our efforts in an attempt to change the way we think, behave and interact with ourselves, other people and the world.

This is where Involution comes in.

Involution, the antithesis of evolution, does not align itself with any particular dogma, creed or religious doctrine, but is rather an experiential practice of life.

The practice of Involution is an all-encompassing philosophy; one that can be observed in the actions of thousands. From the Sadhus, yogis and monks of the East, to the New Ageists, fitness nuts and self-help enthusiasts of the West, Involution can be observed anywhere in which a person or group of people seek inner strength, understanding, metamorphosis and liberation.

Self-Awareness as a Tool of Inner Evolution

Without awareness, we are not truly alive. ~ J. Bugental

Are you a self-aware person? Think about this question for a minute.

How conscious are you really of the many thoughts, feelings and behaviors you exhibit during the day? If you have a tendency to:

Be unaware that your words or actions have hurt or offended another person,

Be self-destructive and continue to make the same mistake over and over again,

Have trouble identifying what exactly you are feeling or thinking (poor emotional intelligence),

Have a habit of behaving without thinking,

Have an unclear perception of who you (think) you are,

… chances are that you are low on the self-awareness spectrum.

Developing Self-Awareness

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently. ~ Pema Chödrön (When Things Fall Apart)

Self-awareness is the essential building block of inner transformation because without being aware of who we are and what we do, there is little chance that we can grow to understand why we feel, think and behave the way we do, and thus grow closer to living a life of peace.

To become a self-aware person requires patience and practice. There are no quick fixes. There are no immediate solutions. In order to follow the path of Involution, we must be persistent in our efforts. These efforts could include:

1. Paying Attention.

Consider for instance: what you are saying, how this is influencing the people around you, what you are feeling, how this is influencing your behavior, what you are thinking, when your thoughts occurred, what you like and dislike, what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Paying attention to what goes on inside of you is an excellent way of developing self-awareness.

2. Mindfulness Meditation.

There’s no need to practice this for even 10 minutes a day. 5 minutes at first will suffice, but in order to make that 5 minutes count, you must make a habit of this practice. Start ideally first thing in the morning, in a quiet, comfortable place. Mindfulness meditation is the practice of becoming aware of your inner chatter, in the present moment and letting it pass. Benefits include increased inner calm and stability, and decreased emotional reactivity. You may like to learn more.

The Boat on Top of the Ocean

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. ~ C. Jung

The non-self-aware person can be compared to a little boat drifting on the surface of the ocean. The stability of that boat is completely reliant on the stability of the ocean beneath it. When the sea is turbulent and chaotic, so too is the boat; cast here and there, to and fro violently.

The same can be said of the non-self-aware person; their peace and happiness is entirely controlled by how calm and stable their inner worlds are. In fact, the non-self-aware person is basically a slave of their thoughts and emotions, which is the main culprit for their suffering.

The intensity of the person’s servitude is dependent on the intensity of their inner turmoil. This is the principle of the Boat On Top Of The Ocean.

Freedom From Slavery

Never become a slave to your own thinking and your own self. Understand that you are continuously changing. But, in which way you will change is your free will. ~ R. Papian

It may strike you as an odd thought to think that you enslave yourself to yourself. But when we lack self-awareness, we perpetuate the pain and suffering in our lives, both within and without ourselves.

Involution can help address these problems. When we follow the process of Involution, we realize that self-awareness is an essential building block of inner transformation.

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About Aletheia Luna

Aletheia Luna is an influential psychospiritual writer whose work has changed the lives of thousands of people worldwide. After escaping the religious sect she was raised in, Luna experienced a profound existential crisis that led to her spiritual awakening. As a spiritual counselor, diviner, and author, Luna's mission is to help others become conscious of their entrapment and find joy, empowerment, and liberation in any circumstance. [Read More]

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It was an interesting article, although I´d like to point out that an individual could suffer from a disease, and therefore have lower conciousness. How easy is it in such a case to change by free will? Sounds harder at least.

Dis-ease in the body for the most part stems from thoughts. Your body is a reflection of your thoughts, it only know health and your thoughts interfere. Sometimes it is cleaning up karma from past lives sure but our health and healing are in our own hands.

1) An interesting thought came as I began reading this, if are propositions from the outside world do not help us understand our inner self then this article is of no further use then any other proposition. (That’s just a bit of humorous irony I found in this. Thought it would make one laugh from the way it makes one’s head spin!) 2)Wouldn’t our lack of self-awareness be as much a mystery, and therefore, as much joy as life itself. Such a concept to the mystery to life is described by your friend Mateo Sol in an article about the meaning of life.

Deborah … I wasn’t aware that such questions could stir so much emotion and passion! This is more than I could ever have asked for, and I thank you for sharing this with me. Comments like yours really do brighten my day and reinforce the work Sol and I do here on LonerWolf.

I wish you all the very best for the daunting, but invigorating journey ahead of you!

In some ways yes, in others no Mood.
Involution is a personal choice we make, a long-term decision we adhere to, to direct and revolutionize our lives. There are no beliefs or dogmas here, only simple experiential ways of approaching ourselves; the ways we think, feel and interact – so there really is no need to ‘preach’ anything here. Thousands of people throughout the world practice forms of Involution every day (and you probably even do as well) – we have simply given a name to it.
You may like to clarify your understanding of it more here: https://lonerwolf.com/involution/
-L

Developing self-intelligence may be one of the most important things in life. Once I heard in a movie, that some people consider their weakness as a strong point (especially self-destructive passions). Well, that’s right, before we want self-advance, we must admit our own faults, in order to proceed foward. Standing like a rock in an emotional storm is not easy, but pretty good way to involve ourselves.

Most definitely. Without self-intelligence, how can we be intelligent in other areas of our lives? When we lack this fundamental need we sabotage our relationships, our lives and our happiness. It’s so simple, so straight-forward, but so few people actively seek to become self-aware. It’s no wonder that there is so much suffering in the world – people shoot themselves in the feet without knowing it was them!

Istvan, thank you very much for your thoughts.
I wish you all the very best on your Involutionary path,

I underlined your sentence “There is no quick fixes”. I’m totally agree with this. Sometimes i found that i wasn’t self-aware enough about what i do or feel but once i was in an isolated place, i thought of many things about what have been done.
I can’t keep staying self-aware to myself. This is the problem :(

It has been a while for me to visit this gorgeous site. been busy lately hehe
hopefully that both of you always in happiness :)

Hey Iqbal! Nice to hear from you again. :)
The good thing is that now you are aware that you are not always self-aware … that is a good start, and in and of itself is a form of self-awareness.
As the article suggested, mindfulness meditation may be a good start for you. Give it a go, you never know where it will take you. ;)
Warmly, Luna

I’m glad to hear that you think, i still on that path to the self-awareness.

And yeah i want to ask you something. lately i have felt lost. you know like i don’t know what feeling that i’ve been through or i find hard to tell people about what i want to be said (difficult to find the right words). is there anything wrong with me? :( I hope you get what i meant.

There is nothing wrong with you. Many people experience these feelings.
Struggling to identify what you’re feeling or thinking usually stems from a lack of self-knowledge, which in turn stems from a lack of self-understanding and self-awareness. Sol and I will be writing about these topics in the future. ;)

Hello Luna, reading through this article along with the part about you let me just start out by saying you are a beautiful person with a great heart. While reading through this article I’m knowing already along with accepting I do most of these things said in your article to myself, but I’m not sure how to let other’s around me in my family understand this fully. I’m sure that my family members understand they do this because many times they have admitted it themselves out loud,but every time feelings come out into words my way to my mother it ends up in an argument. My point here Luna out if all of this is do you think it’s good or healthy to try healing myself around this? Honestly the only thing keeping going is this guy I fell for with this odd connection ee have going on between us which I don’t think is bad,but I’m un sure on his full intentions. He’s an old soul

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About Us

Walk the path less traveled

Our names are Aletheia Luna and Mateo Sol and we currently live in Perth, Western Australia.

Our mission is to help others embrace the path of the lone wolf and listen to the soul’s calling. Our goal is to provide a grounded and balanced perspective of spirituality that doesn’t bypass the raw, real, and messy aspects of spiritual growth or psychological development.

We are deeply drawn to exploring and exposing both the light and shadow side of human nature and spirituality. We strive towards integration, balance, wholeness, and embracing both the sacred and wild aspects of being human. Read more.